How to Improve NATO Partnerships after the Arab Spring

Editorial Team: The second theme week of our “Your Ideas, Your NATO” policy competition focused how NATO should support regional transition after the Arab Spring. Five articles were shortlisted. However, we wanted to highlight the other high quality submissions.

The second part of "Your Ideas, Your NATO" competition produced 77 op-eds. We would like to thank all of our members who contributed to the policy workshop competition.

Atlantic-community.org already published the shortlisted articles for Category 2. However, we received many very good articles that regrettably could not be shortlisted. Below you will find links to the other articles. These submissions contain recommendations ranging from ideas such as focusing on the water politics in the region and looking at Turkey's role to reassessing how we should actually view the Arab Spring. UPDATE: Check out the Atlantic Memo from Category 2 as well.

Participants in Category 2: Partnerships after the Arab Spring were asked the following question:

NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue aims to contribute to regional security and stability, achieve better mutual understanding, and dispel misconceptions. In 2011, unprecedented changes occurred in the Middle East with people demanding better living conditions, the protection of human rights, and more accountable and democratic governments. The Arab public awakening has demonstrated that the political landscape in the Mediterranean and the Middle East is fundamentally changing with new electoral processes in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. The crisis that erupted in Libya in early 2011, at NATO's door step, is just one example of how the security of NATO countries and the security of the Mediterranean and the Middle East are so closely linked.

Question: How should NATO support the long-term transition process underway in regional partner countries and how should NATO work in these changed environments in order to further the goal of regional security and stability?

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